Context aware transactions performed on integrated service platforms

ABSTRACT

Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate to user access to an application service that references user account information and previous user action information. One example method may include receiving, via a receiver device, user input information to access an application, the user input information including at least one action request and authorizing the user to access the application. The method may also include storing the user input information as part of a contextual history information record in a database memory, generating a response message to the selected at least one action request based on the contextual history information, and forwarding the response message to the user via a transmitter device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation from U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/567,859, filed Dec. 11, 2014, and entitled “CONTEXT AWARETRANSACTIONS PERFORMED ON INTEGRATED SERVICE PLATFORMS”, which is acontinuation from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/273,413, filedOct. 14, 2011, and entitled “CONTEXT AWARE TRANSACTIONS PERFORMED ONINTEGRATED SERVICE PLATFORMS”, now issued U.S. Pat. No. 8,914,850, eachof which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems and,more specifically, to a method, apparatus and computer-readableinstructions configuring context aware transactions performed onintegrated service platforms to provide a user with proactive andpredictive transactions based on user account information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Several systems are available that provide services to users which aretypically accessible using various communication channels. Theseservices may include one or more web services and the communicationchannels may include audio call, short message service (SMS), web,mobile and social media. The user may typically use several of thechannels to access multiple of the services for carrying out a same orrelated tasks. The user may frequently need to carry out multiplesessions related to a same task or related tasks using multiple servicesby way of different communication channels. For example, the user mayneed to switch from a first session using a first service accessible viaa first communication channel to a second session using a second serviceaccessible via a second communication channel. In such scenarios, thecurrent systems typically drop the user's context for the first sessionand initiate a completely new context for the second session. Without acontext from the first session, the second service may need to collectuser information all over again before being able to provide therequired solution to the user. This information may include user accountinformation, user request and the like. This may lead to the userneeding to start all over again on every new session which is veryinefficient and may lead to loss of time, system resources, increasedcost of running the system and user dissatisfaction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method forconfiguring context aware sessions. The method generally includesproviding a first session using a first communication channel and usingcontextual information of the first session to provide a second sessionusing a second communication channel, wherein the second session isassociated with the first session.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus forconfiguring context aware sessions. The apparatus generally includes atleast one processor configured to provide a first session using a firstcommunication channel and use contextual information of the firstsession to provide a second session using a second communicationchannel, wherein the second session is associated with the firstsession; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-programproduct for configuring context aware sessions, the computer-programproduct generally includes a non-transitory computer-program product forconfiguring context aware sessions, the computer-program productcomprising instructions for providing a first session using a firstcommunication channel and using contextual information of the firstsession to provide a second session using a second communicationchannel, wherein the second session is associated with the firstsession.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a method that includesreceiving, via a receiver device, user input information to access anapplication, the user input information including at least one actionrequest. The method may also include authorizing the user to access theapplication, storing the user input information as part of a contextualhistory information record in a database memory, generating a responsemessage to the selected at least one action request based on thecontextual history information, and forwarding the response message tothe user via a transmitter device.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus thatincludes a receiver configured to receive user input information toaccess an application, the user input information including at least oneaction request. The apparatus may also include a processor configured toauthorize the user to access the application, store the user inputinformation as part of a contextual history information record in adatabase memory, and generate a response message to the selected atleast one action request based on the contextual history information.The apparatus may also include a transmitter configured to forward theresponse message to the user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications system conceptuallyillustrating an example of context aware sessions in accordance withcertain aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a communication system illustrating anexample of multi channel context aware transactions in accordance withcertain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B is another block diagram of a communication system illustratingan example of proactive and predictive context aware transactions inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates example for diagram providing a multi-channel contextaware session in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example system diagram of a network entityconfigured to perform the various operations of embodiments of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example flow diagram according to anotherembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example network entity embodied with hardwareand/or software to perform example operations based on one or moreexample embodiments of the present disclosure.

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofcertain embodiments of the present invention, will be better understoodwhen read in conjunction with the appended drawings. The figuresillustrate diagrams of the functional blocks of various embodiments. Thefunctional blocks are not necessarily indicative of the division betweenhardware circuitry. Thus, for example, one or more of the functionalblocks (e.g., processors or memories) may be implemented in a singlepiece of hardware (e.g., a general purpose signal processor or a blockor random access memory, hard disk, or the like). Similarly, theprograms may be stand alone programs, may be incorporated as subroutinesin an operating system, may be functions in an installed imagingsoftware package, and the like. It should be understood that the variousembodiments are not limited to the arrangements and instrumentalityshown in the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communications system 100 conceptuallyillustrating an example of context aware sessions in accordance withcertain aspects of the present disclosure.

System 100 provides services 104 to a user 150 which are accessibleusing various communication channels 102. Services 104 include a voiceself service 118, an intelligent routing service 120, an insight surveyservice 122, a notification service 124 and a session and contextservice 126. Communication channels 102 include audio calls 106, shortmessage service 108, web 110, mobile 112 and social media 114. System100 may also include an interface service 116 providing an interfacebetween the communication channels 102 and the services 104. It may beappreciated that the communication channels 102 and services 104 shownas part of the system 100 are only by way of an illustrative example andthe system 100 may include any number and types of communicationchannels and services. For example, services 104 may include any one ormore web services or applications and the communication channels mayinclude any channel that may be used for communication between a userand the services.

The user 150 may typically use several of the channels 102, one or moreat a time, to access one or more of the services 104 for carrying outsessions related typically to a same task or related tasks. The user 150may frequently need to carry out multiple sessions related to the sametask or related tasks using multiple services 104 by way of differentcommunication channels 102. For example, the user may need to switchfrom a first session using a first service accessible via a firstcommunication channel to a second session using a second serviceaccessible via a second communication channel. In another example, theuser 150 may access one or more of the services 104 using one or morecommunication channels 102.

According to an example embodiment, the session and context service 126records contextual information for every user session, typically in realtime. The intelligent routing service 120 is responsible fortransferring user context from one channel/service to anotherchannel/service. The contextual information may include user accountinformation, user events during a session, user requests made during asession and the like. Thus, system 100 provides context awaretransactions with an ability to pickup where the user left a session ortransaction no matter what communication channel 102 the user may use.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario, wherein the user 150 uses system100 for initiating two sessions for carrying out related tasks. Forexample, at step 1 the user 150 is interfacing with a client's websitein a first session to try and order a “Pay Per View” movie. At step 2,while the user 150 is navigating the website, contextual informationrelating to the first session is constantly being sent to the Session &Context Service 126.

At step 3 the user 150 needs assistance. For the sake of this examplethe user may hit a “Click to Call” button on the web page during thefirst session. This sends a message to the intelligent routing service120 with collected user data and contextual information from the firstsession relating to for example what the user 150 was trying to do. Incertain aspects, an 8YY number is returned to the user that happens tobe provisioned to hit a Voice Self Service (VSS) Platform 118.

At step 4, when the user's call hits the Voice Self Service 118, thePlatform notifies the intelligent routing service 120 of the callarrival.

At step 5, the intelligent routing service 120 returns the user data andprevious channel context from the first session to the VSS application.The application then picks up where the website left off and processesthe “Pay Per View” transaction in a second session using the contextualinformation from the first session.

At step 6, while the user 150 is navigating through the VSS applicationconstant contextual information relating to the second session is sentto the session & context service 126.

At this point the user 150 may be serviced via an automated VSSapplication or if the user is still having difficulty he may select Helpwithin the VSS application and the application may send an agent requestmessage to the intelligent routing service 120 and another 8YY numbermay be returned to the user 150 that is targeted for a specific contactcenter or Agent. The customer data and context information from thesecond session may then be passed to the agent and a third session maybe initiated between the user and the agent and the user may pick upwhere he left off in the second session.

Examples of “user data” include a service name such as “bill pay” andcertain operations/tasks to complete such services, such as authorize auser, obtain account balance, select payment method, enter paymentinformation, submit payment, and confirmation of payment. Eachoperation/task includes key data/attributes which are stored in memorywhile the user interacts with the self service channel. The user data issent to a web service within the host environment that stores andmaintains the data in a database. The user data is accessed inreal-time, and the key data is collected when a step/task is completed.The session and context service 222 is a centralized database accessibleby any of the services.

In one example, a WIFI television application initiates service with thecontext service DB 222 by implementing endpoint channels which haveapplications that are programmed to interface with the hostedenvironment for the context data collection. Endpoint channels haveapplications that are programmed to interface with the web service forthe context data collection. The APIs and SDKs allow the 3rd parties toaccess the user data by provisioning an application ID and/or client IDthat must be provisioned on the hosted environment site in order forthem to have access to certain services.

Examples of predictive transactions may include historical contextualinformation that is used to issue proactive notifications via anychannel (based on customer preferences). For example, certain features,such as a payment reminder (if we know that the first Tuesday of themonth a user calls-in or logs-in to obtain an account balance and paytheir bill, then in response a proactive notification may be used toinform the user of their account balance and allow them to pay theirbill and submit their payment. In another example, if a user initiates acall via mobile 212, the call processing system may predict that theuser is calling about their account balance and their desire to pay abill. In this case, the inbound self service “call” would determine ifthere is a predictive transaction that may be retrieved from thedatabase and then prompt the consumer to confirm the reason for thecall. Once the purpose of the call is confirmed, the application willadvance to a specific part of the application procedures and perform theinteraction. In other words, a prediction may be made and presented tothe user for convenience and confirmation by the user. Such aconfiguration provides the user with one or more opportunities to turndown or accept automated call processing feedback, menu options, andapplication advancement opportunities without initiating any new requestdata. The predeterminations or predictions may be performed by the callprocessing application or user data application upfront in an effort tosave the user time and without requiring any initial user input. Thepredictions may be made the moment the user logs-in, calls-in, connects,etc.

In certain examples, Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a service thatmay be used with ASR, SMS, and Social Media, and correspondingdecisions/interactions may be automated for these communication channels102 and context information stored in the session and context service126.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a communication system 200 conceptuallyillustrating an example of multi channel context aware transactions inaccordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

System 200 includes multiple communication channels 210 including mobile212, fixed line 214 and computer 216. The system 200 also providesmultiple services 220 such as services 222, 224, 226 and 228. Theservices 220 may be a web service or any other type of service. Service222 is a session and context service for recording user data andcontextual information from user sessions. In system 200, service 224 isaccessible via mobile 212, service 236 is accessible via fixed line 214and service 228 is accessible via computer 216.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example of a user undertaking multiple sessionsusing the various communication channels 210 available for making apayment for a bill. The user first initiates a first session on the webwith the service 228 using the computer 216 as communication channel.While the user tries to access his account and pay the bill, user dataand context information relating to the first session is constantly sentand stored in the session and context service 222.

When the user fails to pay the bill using the first session, the userinitiates a second session with the service 226 using the fixed line 214as the communication channel. When the user's call arrives into thesystem using the fixed line 214, the user is authenticated and contextdata is searched. In an aspect, the user may be prompted to enter anaccount number and any existing (stored) user context information may besearched for in the service 222 using the user account number. Thecontext data from the first session is retrieved from service 222 andused for setting up the second session. As the user proceeds in thesecond session and successfully pays the bill, the context informationrelating to the second session is constantly sent and stored in service222.

The user may initiate a third session with service 224 using mobile 212as the communication channel to check a status of the bill payment.Again when a mobile call is received into the system 200, the user isauthenticated and context data is searched in service 222 similar to thesecond session above. The user context data from the second session isretrieved from service 222 and used for setting up the third session andthe user is promptly sent a notification on the mobile device 212 thatthe bill payment is received.

User data may include attributes that identify the consumer and theactions taken by the user. The user data is sent to the context servicesand may be dependent on the applications needed (i.e., user interactionswith such application). Every time a user submits new data it is sent tobe stored by the context service. According to one example, a WiFitelevision application may initiate a service with the context servicedatabase. The application is part of the WiFi enabled TV created by theapplication programming interfaces (APIs) provided by the TVmanufacturer. The APIs and SDKs provide 3^(rd) parties with access tothe context services via a data as a service (DaaS) channel. Thisprovides an interface for the third parties to register to access theuser information. Examples of the user transactions types may includepaying a bill, ordering pay-per-view, voting, polling, etc.

FIG. 3 illustrates example operations 300 for multi-channel contextaware session in accordance with certain aspects of the presentdisclosure. Operations 300 begin at 302 by providing a first session toa user using a first communication channel. In certain aspects the firstsession may be provided with a first service using the firstcommunication channel. At 304, contextual information of the firstsession is stored typically in by a session and context service. At 306,if a request for switching sessions is not received the process movesback to 304. If a request for switching sessions is received at 306, theprocess proceeds to 308 where a message and the contextual informationof the first session is received in an intelligent routing service, themessage typically generated following an event during the first session.The event may be as simple as clicking a hyperlink on a web page duringthe first session.

At 310, a suggestion for making the request for initiating the secondsession using the second communication channel is sent typically fromthe intelligent routing service to the user. At 312, a request forinitiating a second session using a second communication channel isreceived in the system. In certain aspects, the request for initiatingthe second session is received at a second service. At 314, theintelligent routing service is notified of receiving the request forinitiating the second session at the second service. At 316, contextualinformation of the first session is sent by the intelligent routingservice to the second communication channel, in response to receivingthe notification. At 318, contextual information for the second sessionis stored by the session and context service.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a communication system 250 conceptuallyillustrating an example of proactive and predictive context transactionsin accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure.

System 250 includes user premises 252 and a service provider 270. Theuser premises may include a user's home, place of work or a combinationof both. The service provider 270 may be an Internet service provider(ISP) a cable television provider, satellite television provider oranother service provider, etc.

As illustrated in FIG. 2A, the context service may be provided to avariety of different contexts. FIG. 2B illustrates an example contextservice integrated with a WiFi enabled television 254. According to oneexample embodiment, a user 260 may access the television via a remotecontrol (RC) device 262 to view various content channels, the Internet,and other WiFi television (TV) enabled services. For example, a userapplication may be accessed on the WiFi television 254 and presented tothe user on the TV display. Example applications may include userservices, such as e-mail, bill pay, banking, subscription services,games, network applications, etc. The user may select and operate theapplication via interaction with the set top box (STB) 256.

The STB 256 may integrate with the TV 254 to provide wireless Internetaccess via a router 258 located at the user's premises. The router 258may connect to the Internet 264 and provide wireless Internet access tothe end user via a service provider 270. The service provider 270 mayinclude a content server 272 and user history database 274. The contentserver 272 may store and forward content data, such as applications,television shows, Internet services, etc. The user history database 274may provide access to a multi-channel and multi-tenant customer profileinformation. The user may register for a particular service orapplication and submit personal information (e.g., name, address,username, password, credit card information, etc.). The user session maybe associated with one or more contexts that are shared among theapplications during the course of the user session. The contextinformation may be stored in the user history database 274 during userinteraction with one or more applications. Contextual information mayinclude personal user information and other information, such aspreferences, historical selection information, demographic information,user purpose information (e.g., pay a bill, receive technicalassistance, complaints, etc). Such contextual information may beidentified and recorded in the user history database 274 during thecourse of a user session.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example system diagram of a user context servicesystem 400. In addition to the above-noted examples of contextualinformation, such information may be received from user input andapplied to further a user transaction in the course of a single usersession. In operation, a user 260 may select a particular operation orapplication by providing user input to the user context service system400. Such information may be received and stored in a user historydatabase 440. The user data may include a service name or applicationname, such as, for example, “bill pay”, “subscription services”, etc.The service name may include a series of operations or steps that mustbe completed by the user in order for the contextual information to beproperly initiated and stored in the user history database 440. Forinstance, the user may select the service which prompts the user for ausername and/or a password. The user may input such information andproceed to an authorization operation. The authorization may provide aparticular secure socket, port, channel, etc. Once the authorizationinformation is received and the secure channel is assigned to the user,the contextual information may be updated and stored in the historydatabase 440.

Following an authorization procedure, the user 260 may be able to obtainaccount information, select a payment method, enter payment information,submit a payment and receive confirmation information. One or more ofthe above-noted information types may be recorded and stored as part ofthe user context information. The user data is received by an endpointchannel that has corresponding applications that are programmed tointerface with the user context service system 400. Applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs) and software development kits (SDKs) maybe used to connect and communicate with the context service system 400.Third parties may register and access use contextual information storedin the history database 440 by submitting an application identification(ID) and/or a client identification (ID) and receiving the correspondingpermission.

The stored user contextual information may be received, updated andstored in real time. The contextual information may be stored in thehistory database 440. The information can be retrieved and accessed toissue proactive or predictive notifications to the user or thirdparties. The previously stored user contextual information may beretrieved and applied to new contexts in a proactive or predictivemanner. For example previously stored user contextual information may beretrieved and applied to new sessions and applications operated by thirdparties. Once user contextual information has been received and storedin the history database 440, the user contextual information may beretrieved by the data retrieval engine 410 in response to a new userapplication being accessed or a new session being established by theuser or a third party.

The user contextual information may be analyzed by the data analyticsengine 420 to determine the required information for a particularpredictive or proactive transaction performed by a third partyapplication. For example, an automated third party initiated recurringuser payment application may be invoked in response to an initial userpayment transaction. The user inputted information may be received andstored in the user history database 440 during the course of a one-timeuser payment transaction to pay for a particular service (i.e., cabletelevision service). The user context information may be accessed by thedata retrieval engine 410 and a data analytics engine 420 to create anautomated and recurring payment operation to begin sending reminders tothe user at a fixed interval. For instance, the third party cableservice provider may note that the user has called in to pay his or herbill the first Tuesday of the previous month.

In one example, the cable company may setup a proactive notificationreminder via the data reporting engine 430 to notify the user via textmessage, e-mail, telephone call, etc. that there bill is due again. Theuser notification medium may be selected based on one or more portionsof the historical user communication mediums noted in the usercontextual information.

In another example, the cable company may setup a predictive action viathe data reporting engine 430 to automatically initiate a user paymentoption when a user calls into the cable service company. The paymentredirect may begin the moment that the user is identified andcross-correlated with the previous user contextual information stored inthe user history database. For example, the user may enter a call to thecable company and be transferred to the payments center once theauthorization, identification and/or other user information isidentified. This type of predictive action may rely on the historicaluser contextual information to determine the purpose of the user'sprevious call(s) and automatically transfer the user to the paymentscenter.

One example embodiment of the present disclosure may include a method asillustrated in the flow diagram of FIG. 5. Referring to FIG. 5, flowdiagram 500 illustrates receiving, via a receiver device, user inputinformation to access an application, the user input information mayinclude at least one action request at operation 502. The user may beseeking access to an application or entering information in an effort toretrieve certain response information. The user may be pre-authorized orauthorized by entering user credential information in order to accessthe application at operation 504. The method may also include storingthe user input information as part of a contextual history informationrecord in a database memory at operation 506. The method may furtherprovide generating a response message to the selected at least oneaction request based on the contextual history information at operation508. For example, the user may be requesting a summary of his or herbill for a particular service. The response information may be generatedand sent to the user according to one or more preferences derived fromthe user's stored contextual history information. The response may besent to the user via a transmitter device at operation 510.

Examples of user input information may include one or more of ausername, password, user preference and query information. The methodmay also provide generating at least one additional responseautomatically based on a third party application, the at least oneadditional response may be based on at least a portion of the contextualhistory information. The third party may be a cable company that isseeking to track the user behavior of its customers. The storecontextual history information may include user preferences, bill payingpreferences, and records of user behavior (e.g., all the user calls arefor paying bills or bill related). Other options may include accountinformation, technical support, live agent access, etc. The third partyapplication may create a reminder system that automatically generatesfuture reminders based on present transactions. The third partyapplication may generate a predictive response to offer the user aservice independent of the user requesting the service (i.e., withoutthe user requesting or knowing about the third party application). Suchinformation may be derived from the contextual history information ofthe user that is stored in a historical user database.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill would further appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described inconnection with the disclosure herein may be implemented as electronichardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearlyillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have beendescribed above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether suchfunctionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon theparticular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the disclosure herein may be implemented or performedwith a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described herein. Ageneral-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in thealternative, the processor may be any conventional processor,controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also beimplemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combinationof a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other suchconfiguration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with thedisclosure herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a softwaremodule executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory,EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, aCD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. Anexemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that theprocessor can read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal. In the alternative, theprocessor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in auser terminal.

In one or more exemplary designs, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. A non-transitory computer-readable mediaincludes both computer storage media and communication media includingany medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from oneplace to another. A storage media or medium may be any available devicecomponent that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purposecomputer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readablemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium that can be used to carry or store desired program codemeans in the form of instructions or data structures and that can beaccessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the softwareis transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatiledisc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproducedata magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

An exemplary storage medium may be coupled to the processor such thatthe processor may read information from, and write information to, thestorage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integralto the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in anapplication specific integrated circuit (“ASIC”). In the alternative,the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components.For example FIG. 6 illustrates an example network element 600, which mayrepresent any of the above-described network components of FIGS. 1-3.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B and 4, a memory 610 and a processor620 may be discrete components of the network entity 600 that are usedto execute an application or set of operations. The application may becoded in software in a computer language understood by the processor620, and stored in a computer readable medium, such as, the memory 610.Furthermore, a software module 630 may be another discrete entity thatis part of the network entity 600, and which contains softwareinstructions that may be executed by the processor 620. In addition tothe above noted components of the network entity 600, the network entity600 may also have a transmitter and receiver pair configured to receiveand transmit communication signals (not shown).

The previous description of the disclosure is provided to enable anyperson skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure. Variousmodifications to the disclosure will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may beapplied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scopeof the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not intended to be limited tothe examples and designs described herein, but is to be accorded thewidest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosedherein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving, via a receiverdevice, user input information to access an application, the user inputinformation including at least one action request provided by a userdevice; storing the user input information as part of a contextualhistory information in a database memory, the contextual historyinformation identifying a first session and comprising selection eventsoccurring during the first session and the at least one action requestmade during the first session; creating a second session responsive toreceiving a user inquiry; generating a response message to a selectionof the at least one action request based on the contextual historyinformation and the user inquiry; forwarding the response message to theuser device via a transmitter device via the second session; andgenerating at least one additional response based on a third partyapplication, the at least one additional response being based on atleast a portion of the contextual history information; and wherein inthe at least one additional response is a reminder that is derived fromprevious user transactions and the stored contextual historyinformation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user inputinformation comprises at least one of a username, password, userpreference and query.
 3. The method of claim 1, comprising retrievingthe contextual history information of the first session.
 4. The methodof claim 1, comprising applying the contextual history information tothe second session to resume a previous context of the first session. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one additional response is apredictive response that is generated to offer the user a serviceindependent of the user requesting the service, the service beingderived from the contextual history information.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the response message comprises information requested by theuser and responsive to the action request.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the action request is a request to receive at least one of billinformation, account information, order video content and live agentaccess.
 8. An apparatus, comprising: a receiver configured to receiveuser input information to access an application, the user inputinformation including at least one action request provided by a userdevice; and a processor configured to: store the user input informationas part of a contextual history information in a database memory,wherein the contextual history information identifies a first sessionand comprises selection events which occur in the first session and theat least one action request made in the first session; create a secondsession responsive to a receipt of a user inquiry; generate a responsemessage to a selection of the at least one action request based on thecontextual history information and the user inquiry; and a transmitterconfigured to forward the response message to the user device via thesecond session; wherein the processor is further configured to generateat least one additional response based on a third party application, theat least one additional response being based on at least a portion ofthe contextual history information; and wherein the at least oneadditional response is a reminder that is derived from previous usertransactions and the stored contextual history information.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the user input information comprises atleast one of a username, password, user preference and query.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured toretrieve the contextual history information of the first session. 11.The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured toapply the contextual history information to the second session to resumea previous context of the first session.
 12. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein the at least one additional response is a predictive responsethat is generated to offer the user a service independent of the userthat requests the service, the service being derived from the contextualhistory information.
 13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the responsemessage comprises information requested by the user and responsive tothe action request.
 14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the actionrequest is a request to receive at least one of bill information,account information, order video content, and live agent access.
 15. Anon-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instructionsthat when executed cause a processor to perform: receiving, via areceiver device, user input information to access an application, theuser input information including at least one action request provided bya user device; storing the user input information as part of acontextual history information in a database memory, the contextualhistory information identifying a first session and comprising selectionevents occurring during the first session and the at least one actionrequest made during the first session; creating a second sessionresponsive to receiving a user inquiry; generating a response message toa selection of the at least one action request based on the contextualhistory information and the user inquiry; forwarding the responsemessage to the user device via a transmitter device via the secondsession; and generating at least one additional response based on athird party application, the at least one additional response beingbased on at least a portion of the contextual history information,wherein in the at least one additional response is a reminder that isderived from previous user transactions and the stored contextualhistory information.
 16. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the user input information comprises at least one of ausername, password, user preference and query.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the processor isconfigured to store instructions that when executed cause the processorto perform retrieving the contextual history information of the firstsession.
 18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15,wherein the processor is configured to store instructions that whenexecuted cause the processor to perform applying the contextual historyinformation to the second session to resume a previous context of thefirst session.
 19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim15, wherein the at least one additional response is a predictiveresponse that is generated to offer the user a service independent ofthe user requesting the service, the service being derived from thecontextual history information.
 20. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 15, wherein the response message comprises informationrequested by the user and responsive to the action request.